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Conversion Theory: The Disproportionate Influence of Minorities

Why minorities can be powerful beyond their sizes.

Jerry Silfwer
by Jerry Silfwer

Cover photo: @jerrysilfwer

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The con­ver­sion the­ory has fas­cin­at­ing psy­cho­lo­gic­al effects.

The con­ver­sion the­ory explains why minor­it­ies can be power­ful bey­ond their numbers.

How does the con­ver­sion the­ory work?

Here we go:

The Conversion Theory: The Power of Minorities

The dis­pro­por­tion­al power of minor­it­ies is known as the con­ver­sion the­ory. 1Conversion the­ory of minor­ity influ­ence. (2021, February 12). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​C​o​n​v​e​r​s​i​o​n​_​t​h​e​o​r​y​_​o​f​_​m​i​n​o​r​i​t​y​_​i​n​f​l​u​e​nce

“In groups, the minor­ity can have a dis­pro­por­tion­ate effect, con­vert­ing many ‘major­ity’ mem­bers to their own cause. This is because many major­ity group mem­bers are not strong believ­ers in its cause. They may be simply going along because it seems easi­er or that there is no real altern­at­ive. They may also have become dis­il­lu­sioned with the group pur­pose, pro­cess, or lead­er­ship and are seek­ing a viable altern­at­ive.”
Source: Changingminds​.org 2Conversion Theory. (2023). Changingminds​.org. https://​chan​ging​minds​.org/​e​x​p​l​a​n​a​t​i​o​n​s​/​t​h​e​o​r​i​e​s​/​c​o​n​v​e​r​s​i​o​n​_​t​h​e​o​r​y​.​htm

How does it work?

The social cost of hold­ing a dif­fer­ent view than the major­ity is high. This increased cost explains why minor­it­ies often hold their opin­ions more firmly. It takes determ­in­a­tion to go against the norm. 3Moscovici, S. (1980). Toward a the­ory of con­ver­sion beha­viour. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 209 – 239. New York: Academic Press

In con­trast, many major­ity mem­bers don’t hold their opin­ions so firmly. They might belong to the major­ity for no oth­er reas­on than that every­one else seems to be. 4Chryssochoou, X. and Volpato, C. (2004). Social Influence and the Power of Minorities: An Analysis of the Communist Manifesto, Social Justice Research, 17, 4, 357 – 388

According to con­ver­sion the­ory, while major­it­ies often claim norm­at­ive social influ­ence, minor­it­ies strive for eth­ic­al high ground. 

Given the power of norm­at­ive social influ­ence, minor­it­ies typ­ic­ally form tight-knit groups that can repeatedly com­mu­nic­ate the same core message.

Conversion Theory Examples

Most big shifts usu­ally start with a small group of ded­ic­ated people:

  • Dietary move­ments. A minor­ity advoc­at­ing for a spe­cif­ic diet or life­style choice (e.g., vegan­ism or paleo) gradu­ally per­suades oth­ers to adopt these prac­tices, lead­ing to a broad­er cul­tur­al shift.
  • Fashion trends. A small group of fash­ion influ­en­cers intro­duces a new style or cloth­ing item, and as they gain vis­ib­il­ity, the trend catches on and becomes widely popular.
  • Political act­iv­ism. Grassroots move­ments, such as cli­mate change act­iv­ism or social justice cam­paigns, can begin with a small group of pas­sion­ate indi­vidu­als who even­tu­ally influ­ence the wider pub­lic and bring about policy changes.
  • Workplace innov­a­tion. A minor­ity of employ­ees with­in a com­pany pro­pose a new strategy, product, or pro­cess that ini­tially faces res­ist­ance but even­tu­ally wins over the major­ity and leads to organ­iz­a­tion­al change.
  • Social media chal­lenges. Viral chal­lenges or trends often begin with a small group or an indi­vidu­al who cap­tures the pub­lic’s atten­tion, and the phe­nomen­on then spreads rap­idly to the majority.
  • Art and music appre­ci­ation. A minor­ity group, such as fans of an indie band or sup­port­ers of a con­tro­ver­sial artist, may ini­tially be seen as niche or uncon­ven­tion­al but can even­tu­ally bring their pref­er­ences into the mainstream.
  • Technology adop­tion. Early adop­ters of new tech­no­logy, such as elec­tric vehicles or crypto­cur­rency, may ini­tially be a minor­ity but can sig­ni­fic­antly influ­ence the broad­er pop­u­la­tion to embrace these innov­a­tions over time.
  • Educational reforms. A small group of edu­cat­ors or par­ents advoc­at­ing for changes in the edu­ca­tion­al sys­tem, such as altern­at­ive teach­ing meth­ods or updated cur­ricula, may sway pub­lic opin­ion and lead to wide­spread reforms.
  • Sports and fit­ness trends: New exer­cise routines or sports, like CrossFit or parkour, often start with a minor­ity fol­low­ing and, as their pop­ular­ity grows, influ­ence the lar­ger pop­u­la­tion to par­ti­cip­ate in and adopt these activities.
  • Language and slang. The evol­u­tion of lan­guage and the incor­por­a­tion of new slang terms or phrases can be traced back to minor­ity groups, such as spe­cif­ic sub­cul­tures or region­al com­munit­ies, whose lin­guist­ic innov­a­tions gradu­ally per­meate main­stream communication.

Minority Influence: A PR Approach

Organizations can cul­tiv­ate a sense of pur­pose and accom­plish­ment among par­ti­cipants by align­ing with a move­ment that chal­lenges a Stupid Majority.

  • Since we psy­cho­lo­gic­ally tend to favour under­dogs, liais­ing with a care­fully selec­ted minor­ity can serve as a game-chan­ging PR strategy.

Minority spokes­per­sons with sol­id con­vic­tions often pos­sess valu­able know­ledge and author­ity, enhan­cing their per­suas­ive abil­it­ies and influence.

Disproportionately, minor­it­ies can con­vert numer­ous major­ity mem­bers to their cause, as many in the major­ity may have merely fol­lowed the path of least res­ist­ance, made decisions without much con­sid­er­a­tion, or lacked viable alternatives.

Additionally, a sig­ni­fic­ant seg­ment of the major­ity might be dis­il­lu­sioned with their group’s pur­pose, pro­cess, or lead­er­ship, ren­der­ing them more recept­ive to altern­at­ive proposals.

But from a PR per­spect­ive, we must be cautious.

Minorities aren’t always right, and major­it­ies aren’t always wrong. Minorities can hold futile views while still exer­cising a dis­pro­por­tion­ate amount of power momentarily.

Learn more: Conversion Theory: The Disproportionate Influence of Minorities

The Stupid Majority

From what the Conversion Theory teaches us, minor­it­ies tend to hold their opin­ions more firmly. This is reas­on­able since going against the major­ity comes at a high­er social cost. 5Silfwer, J. (2017, June 13). Conversion Theory — Disproportionate Minority Influence. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​c​o​n​v​e​r​s​i​o​n​-​t​h​e​o​ry/

But some minor­it­ies have an addi­tion­al advantage:

Smart Minority = a minor­ity of today that will grow into a new major­ity of tomorrow.

In con­trast, some major­it­ies have an addi­tion­al disadvantage:

Stupid Majority = a major­ity of today that will stead­ily decline into a minor­ity of tomorrow.

Identifying a Stupid Majority (and sid­ing with a Smart Minority) will cla­ri­fy your core mes­sage and attract highly engaged minor­ity supporters.

Examples of Stupid Majorities

Stupid Majorities are to be found everywhere:

  • “Riding a skate­board isn’t a real sport!”
    (Stupid Majority vs Red Bull)
  • “Computing is about bits and bytes, not design!”
    (Stupid Majority vs Apple)
  • “Streaming com­pan­ies can­’t pro­duce movies and tele­vi­sion shows!”
    (Stupid Majority vs Netflix)
  • “Electric cars can­’t com­pete with gas cars!”
    (Stupid Majority vs Tesla Motors)
  • “Hotels must have hotel rooms!”
    (Stupid Majority vs AirBnB)
  • “Taxi com­pan­ies must have tax­is!”
    (Stupid Majority vs Uber)
  • “Media com­pan­ies must pro­duce media!”
    (Stupid Majority vs Facebook)

What’s a Stupid Majority in your industry?

Read also: The Stupid Majority PR Strategy: How Underdogs Dominate

Diffusion of Innovations

The Diffusion of Innovations the­ory, pro­posed by Everett Rogers in 1962, remains a frame­work for under­stand­ing how new ideas, tech­no­lo­gies, products, or prac­tices spread through soci­et­ies over time. 6Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of Innovations (5th ed.). Free Press.

Diffusion of innovations.
Diffusion of innovations.

The Diffusion of Innovations the­ory out­lines the pro­cess by which innov­a­tions are adop­ted by indi­vidu­als and groups, emphas­ising the role of com­mu­nic­a­tion chan­nels, social net­works, and the char­ac­ter­ist­ics of the innov­a­tion itself.

  • Innovators (2,5%)
  • Early Adopters (13,5%)
  • Early Majority (34%)
  • Late Majority (34%)
  • Laggards (16%)

The Diffusion of Innovations the­ory offers insights into how new ideas and tech­no­lo­gies influ­ence soci­et­ies. Understanding these dynam­ics can inform pub­lic rela­tions strategies across diverse contexts.

“Diffusion research has helped under­stand new product adop­tion and dif­fu­sion, with net­work ana­lys­is and field exper­i­ments being prom­ising tools in under­stand­ing the con­sump­tion of new products.”
Source: Journal of Consumer Research 7Rogers, E. (1976). New Product Adoption and Diffusion. Journal of Consumer Research, 2, 290 – 301. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​8​6​/​2​0​8​642

Examples of Technological Adoptions

By examin­ing real-life examples, we can bet­ter com­pre­hend the prin­ciples of this the­ory and its applic­a­tions in vari­ous fields:

  • Smartphone adop­tion. The rap­id adop­tion of smart­phones provides a com­pel­ling example of the dif­fu­sion of innov­a­tions. Initially, smart­phones were adop­ted by tech enthu­si­asts and early adop­ters who val­ued their advanced fea­tures. Over time, as prices decreased and func­tion­al­ity improved, smart­phones became more access­ible to the gen­er­al pub­lic. Today, they are nearly ubi­quit­ous, illus­trat­ing the dif­fu­sion pro­cess from innov­at­ors to early adop­ters, early major­ity, late major­ity, and finally, laggards.
  • Social media adop­tion. The rise of social media plat­forms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram exem­pli­fies the dif­fu­sion of innov­a­tions in the digit­al realm. These plat­forms began with small user bases but quickly gained momentum as early adop­ters spread pos­it­ive exper­i­ences to their social net­works. As social media became ingrained in every­day life, more con­ser­vat­ive users gradu­ally embraced these plat­forms, lead­ing to wide­spread adop­tion across demographics.
  • Electric vehicle adop­tion. The adop­tion of elec­tric vehicles rep­res­ents a con­tem­por­ary example of the dif­fu­sion of innov­a­tions with­in the auto­mot­ive industry. Initially, EVs faced scep­ti­cism and lim­ited con­sumer interest due to con­cerns about range, char­ging infra­struc­ture, and price. However, as tech­no­logy advanced and envir­on­ment­al aware­ness grew, early adop­ters embraced EVs. Government incent­ives and improve­ments in bat­tery tech­no­logy fur­ther accel­er­ated adop­tion, lead­ing to broad­er accept­ance and main­stream adoption.
  • Streaming adop­tion. The shift from tra­di­tion­al tele­vi­sion to online stream­ing ser­vices illus­trates the dif­fu­sion of innov­a­tions in the enter­tain­ment sec­tor. Platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video ini­tially attrac­ted tech-savvy early adop­ters seek­ing altern­at­ives to tra­di­tion­al cable TV. As these ser­vices improved their con­tent lib­rar­ies and user inter­faces, they gained trac­tion among the early and late major­ity. Today, stream­ing has become the dom­in­ant mode of con­tent con­sump­tion for mil­lions worldwide.
  • Telemedicine adop­tion. The adop­tion of telemedi­cine ser­vices provides a recent example of innov­a­tion dif­fu­sion in the health­care industry, par­tic­u­larly high­lighted dur­ing the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. Initially met with scep­ti­cism due to con­cerns about patient con­fid­en­ti­al­ity and the qual­ity of care, telemedi­cine gained accept­ance among early adop­ters seek­ing con­veni­ence and access­ib­il­ity. As reg­u­lat­ory bar­ri­ers were over­come and health­care pro­viders integ­rated tele­health into their prac­tices, broad­er adop­tion fol­lowed, with patients and pro­viders recog­nising its benefits.

Learn more: Diffusion of Innovations

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ANNOTATIONS
ANNOTATIONS
1 Conversion the­ory of minor­ity influ­ence. (2021, February 12). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​C​o​n​v​e​r​s​i​o​n​_​t​h​e​o​r​y​_​o​f​_​m​i​n​o​r​i​t​y​_​i​n​f​l​u​e​nce
2 Conversion Theory. (2023). Changingminds​.org. https://​chan​ging​minds​.org/​e​x​p​l​a​n​a​t​i​o​n​s​/​t​h​e​o​r​i​e​s​/​c​o​n​v​e​r​s​i​o​n​_​t​h​e​o​r​y​.​htm
3 Moscovici, S. (1980). Toward a the­ory of con­ver­sion beha­viour. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 209 – 239. New York: Academic Press
4 Chryssochoou, X. and Volpato, C. (2004). Social Influence and the Power of Minorities: An Analysis of the Communist Manifesto, Social Justice Research, 17, 4, 357 – 388
5 Silfwer, J. (2017, June 13). Conversion Theory — Disproportionate Minority Influence. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​c​o​n​v​e​r​s​i​o​n​-​t​h​e​o​ry/
6 Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of Innovations (5th ed.). Free Press.
7 Rogers, E. (1976). New Product Adoption and Diffusion. Journal of Consumer Research, 2, 290 – 301. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​8​6​/​2​0​8​642
Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at Spin Factory and KIX Communication Index. Before that, he worked at Kaufmann, Whispr Group, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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